The benefits of Neuro-Linguistic Programming for anyone who suffers from a phobia can be life changing. Effective and powerful, NLP can help you not only overcome the phobia but also help you uncover the root of the phobia and understand why it existed in the first place. To really understand why NLP is effective, you much first understand what NLP is.

NLP is a form of psychotherapy that can benefit anyone who seeks it in ways far beyond overcoming phobias. It can help with shyness, depression, habit or learning disorders, psychosomatic illnesses and help you live a fuller, happier life. Because it doesn't settle for treating symptoms, NLP exposes the cause of the disorder and corrects it providing long lasting results that other forms of therapy can't.

NLP practitioners actively listen to your answers to questions targeted at uncovering the root of your phobia. They will look for clues and tips as to what experience in the past has led your phobia to take hold. Often times, this is a memory of something deeply suppressed in your mind. In order to make any real progress you have to be willing to look into your subconscious and let that come out so it can be changed.

After the root cause is uncovered, it's time to look at the trigger itself. The trigger is that which the phobia centers around - spiders, snakes, dogs, the dark or people to name just a few possible triggers. For the purpose of this article, we'll say your phobia is of dogs. The cause of that fear is likely a traumatic event that happened when you were too young to remember or had the fear of dogs instilled in you by a parent or guardian who had the same fear. These memories take seed in our subconscious minds - becoming similar to programs - and turn into phobias.

Now you've discovered your phobia of dogs comes from an early memory your brain is conjuring up - even though you're not aware of it - when you see or hear dogs. This is happening because to that negative program, Factor A (the dog) plus Factor B (you) equals Outcome C (the dog is going to bite you or maul you or something of that nature in most dog phobias). The problem with that is, A plus B doesn't always equal C. What needs to be done here, is a reformatting of that program.

The NLP practitioner will work with you to help anchor the trigger - dogs - with a more pleasant association. Instead of that negative programmed memory making you feel fear and panic, the sight of dogs will be reprogrammed to bring to mind a calming tone of voice, a color that makes you relax or a place you find comforting. You may never love dogs enough to own one, but you may just be able to brush one when you visit a friend with a pooch of their own. - 32509